


Hacking is for more than Computers

by Sreya



Series: The Girl from the Coffee Shop [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-18 01:52:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3551636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sreya/pseuds/Sreya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye finds out that working with Ward and Garrett will require more than just her hacking skills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hacking is for more than Computers

Skye flashed a grin at the guard in the lobby and showed her badge. "Hey, Mike, how's it going?"

"Just fine, good to see again, it's been a while."

"Not really, I was just working some different hours for a while. Back on a regular shift, though." She waved as she entered the elevator and hit the button for an upper floor.

After a couple months of individual meets, Ward had set Skye up as the tech manager for a rehab clinic in old town. It gave her a steady income (under the table) and from time to time he'd pass her information to give them for their treatment program. It was exciting to know she was helping people with severe disabilities, and the progress she'd seen in them was _amazing_. She couldn't understand why SHIELD was keeping such advancements under wraps, and it just made her angry to think about it. It made her even more determined than ever to do what she could, and she'd begun passing information through the Rising Tide about the clinic, trying to spread the word to those who could use their help.

Stepping into the lobby of the clinic, she spotted a little boy playing on a handheld game system and swinging his feet. "Ace!" She walked over and gave him a high-five. "How's it hanging, my man?"

"It's okay," he shrugged. "Dad's getting another treatment, so I'm stuck here waiting."

She plopped down next to him. "Hey, is that the Avengers game?"

"Yeah, you can pick one of them to play - right now I'm playing Iron Man."

"That is _so_ cool. Show me how it works." Skye loved Ace. He was quiet but wicked smart, and cared about his dad, Mike Peterson, a lot. She liked watching the two of them together - they had the kind of bond she'd craved as a kid, and it felt good to see it actually existed.

When Mike came out of the back room, he grinned on seeing her sitting with his son. "Skye, good to see you again."

"You, too. Looks like those treatments are really working - when you started last month you could barely walk in here on your own."

Mike bent down and picked up Ace for a hug. "Feels so good to be able to do this again, buddy." Putting him back down, he turned to Skye. "You coming in or heading out?"

"Coming in. Gotta check a few things in the system, then update some data. Nothing exciting." She held our her hand for another five with Ace. "Catch you later, kid."

"You bet." They waved at each other as the father and son left for the hall and Skye went to the back rooms. Passing Debbie in her lab coat, she chirped a "Good morning!" but Debbie just smiled distractedly and hustled into her lab. Shrugging, Skye opened up the server room and plopped into her desk chair, firing up the computer.

* * *

A few hours later, she was following the coordinates texted to her for a nearby park. She sat down on an isolated bench, scanning the pedestrians and tourists until she spotted Ward walking over with a cup in each hand. She rolled her eyes as he handed her one. "Starbucks _again?_ Are you ever going to let that go?"

"Nope," he smirked and sat down next to her, casually slinging an arm behind her back as he sipped from his own cup. The aviator glasses he wore hid his eyes, so she couldn't be sure if he was looking at her or checking their surroundings. Probably the latter, dangerous spy and all.

Sighing, Skye took a sip from her own cup and noted he'd, again, gotten one of her favorites, a frozen frappuccino. "I noticed Debbie's been working overtime in the lab lately - you bring anything that'll help her out?"

"Not this time." Ward sat his cup down on the bench. "This time the info's for you." Instead of a drive, her passed her a file folder with a SHIELD insignia on it. "How'd you like to go to Paris?"

She flipped the file open with a gasp, seeing a stack of paperwork ready for her signature. "Wait, seriously?"

"Garrett's bringing you onto the team as a consultant. Made the argument that we need a good hacker to counter the Rising Tide leaks."

"Hold up a second." She looked up at Ward in disbelief. "He's using a leak that _he created_ as an excuse to bring on the same hacker he's been _giving_ the information to? That's…" she searched for the right word, "I don't know what it is except some kind of crazy brilliance."

"It's going to mean slowing down the flow of information for a while," Ward cautioned. "It has to look like this worked, that you're stopping them from getting into the system."

"If it helps in the longterm, that should be fine." She took a calming breath. This would give her access to the SHIELD servers - she could finally start looking for those unredacted files.

"Your cover is as a hacker Garrett and I ran into a few years ago on a black op. Anyone ask you what it was about, just tell them it's classified. You don't have to worry about tripping on details, and it solidifies your trustworthiness to keep secrets."

She snorted. "Classified. Right." Closing the file, she turned to try and see through his glasses. "So it's just you, me, and Garrett with the whole picture?"

"Think you can handle that?" He took off the glasses and looked her straight in the eyes. Her heart jumped a bit at the serious way he looked at her. "This isn't like the clinic. These are trained agents, and they won't trust you right away. They'll be looking for anything off."

"Not a problem," she promised him. "You _know_ I'll do whatever it takes to find my parents. Playing a consultant will be a piece of cake - not like I'm pretending to be an agent or anything."

Ward nodded. "All right then. We'll meet you at the SHIELD offices. You can leave your van there, it'll go into storage while you're gone." With that, he slipped his glasses back on and stood up to go. "Just tell the clinic you've been transferred. They won't ask any questions."

"Got it." She watched him walk off, excitement bubbling in her core. Flipping the file back open, she grinned. _Finally_.

* * *

"Ward, bad news - Rising Tide gave the location to another group, and they're on their way to your position." Skye switched between browsers to scan through the information.

_"I'm five minutes away from retrieving the package."_

Dumont grabbed the mic from in front of Skye, and she spared a moment to glare at him before bringing up the surveillance in the restaurant. "So's everyone else, Ward. We need to abort."

_"This is our best shot at this. Besides, if the job was easy-"_

Dumont rolled his eyes. "It wouldn't be any fun, yeah yeah. Well, watch your six."

While Dumont pointed out their target to Ward, Skye continued digging into the Rising Tide feed and identified the group coming in after Ward. Mercenaries, so she jotted down the info to track back their backer after all this was over, then switched to local feeds trying to identify their position. Her fingers flew over the keys and she absently for any further sound from Ward, but so far he was quiet. Finally, she spotted the mercenaries coming up the block and grabbed the mic back from Dumont. "Ward, incoming hostiles, you need to move it."

He grunted an acknowledgement, then she heard him deadpan, _"Your fireplace is broken."_

Skye groaned. "Oh. My. God. Ward, get your ass to the roof, extraction incoming." She heard breaking glass over the feed and a couple of grunts, and chewed on her lip waiting for further word. "Ward?"

"Monroe's in position," Dumont reported.

She listened to Ward breathing heavily over the feed, then, _"I'm away. Package is secured."_

Skye released an explosive breath and leaned back. "See you when you get back."

The mic was yanked out of her hand, and she turned to see Dumont glaring at her. "What the hell?"

"Your job is monitoring the Rising Tide. _Not_ handling the field agents."

"Well, _excuse me_ for trying to keep our teammates alive."

"If you would just do what you're supposed to -"

"If you would actually use your _brain_ and scan more than just the building maybe I wouldn't _have_ to step in -"

"Don't you tell me how to do my job!"

"Well then maybe you should actually learn how to do it!"

"Everybody shut up!" Garrett stood at the door to the comms room, staring at them. "What the hell is going on here?"

Skye realized she and Dumont were standing practically nose to nose; she could see him grinding his teeth. She raised an eyebrow, giving him a chance to explain to his superior.

"Your _consultant_ ," he spit out, "needs to learn to stay out of my way during a mission and stick to her own job."

"Really," Garrett drawled. "Skye?"

"I _was_ doing my job. I identified a threat from the Rising Tide, tracked it, and alerted our agent in the field of the incoming danger."

"You were messing with the surveillance feeds -"

_"To track the people the info was leaked to,_ " she pointed out forcefully. "Was I supposed to just sit on that information until _after_ the mission was a bust?"

"All right, everybody cool off. Dumont, check to make sure nobody identified Ward. Skye, come with me." He turned and strode out of the room. Skye narrowed her eyes at Dumont before following him to his office.

"Sit."

Skye sat down and warily watched Garrett as he pulled a flask out of his desk drawer. "Look, I'm sorry about-"

"Dumont's a jackass, we all know that." She was surprised at the interruption and sat with her mouth open for a minute, then nodded. "But you can't afford to go stepping on his toes."

"I get it. I'm sorry. It's just…" she hesitated, then barged in. "He wasn't watching the streets. If I hadn't checked them, Ward wouldn't have had any warning those people were coming."

"Ward can handle himself." Garrett took a swig from the flask and then put it back in his desk. "He knows what the bigger game is. Something that _you_ need to remember. It's important that you get along with this team."

"Yes, sir," Skye said quietly.

"You're the outsider. It's up to you to earn their trust."

"I understand. I'll do better."

"Thatta girl. Now, you should avoid Dumont for a couple hours. Wait till he cools down. Then go and grovel. Stoke his ego. He'll like that."

Skye wrinkled her nose in disgust, but nodded her assent. "I'll do that."

"Right. Now get outta here. Ward and Monroe'll be back soon."

She left the office with her shoulders slumped and went upstairs to the helicopter landing pad to wait for Ward. It didn't take long before the bird landed and he jumped out with Dan Monroe and a bag full of equipment. She gave both of them a half-smile and grabbed one of Ward's bags to carry down. "Good job, guys."

Ward bumped her with his shoulder. "Thanks for the heads up, kid."

She just shrugged and followed them downstairs. Monroe said something about calling his family to check in and asked if they minded putting away the equipment without him, then left them alone in the makeshift armory. Skye quietly helped pull the gear out of their bags, check the condition of each piece and store it in the proper trunk. She knew Ward was keeping a careful eye on her, and once he reached over to point out a piece of climbing gear that was bent ever so slightly. She nodded and set it aside.

"So," Ward finally said as he snapped a trunk shut. "You're quiet today. What happened?"

She twisted up her face, then reluctantly admitted, "Dumont and I got into it. I have to go play nice tonight, be a good team member."

Ward chuckled and sat down on the closed trunk. "I would have loved to see you cut into that guy."

"Yeah, well, I might have really screwed up this one."

"Hey, you're doing fine." He reached over and pulled her to sit next to him. "You've been a big help on the team. Monroe, Davidson and Perry all think you're great. The Rising Tide leaks have slowed," he eyed her significantly, "and nobody gets along with Dumont. If anything, you're fitting right in."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Tell you what - I'll make sure Dumont gets a few beers in him this evening before you talk to him. You'll have him eating out of your hand, I'm sure." He smirked at her. "Maybe you should wear that low-cut purple top. A little distraction can't hurt."

"You sure it's _Dumont_ you want me to wear that shirt for?" she teased.

"Well, Monroe could probably use a little action, too-" Skye shoved him off the trunk and he fell back laughing, catching himself and rolling before he hit the floor.

"You're horrible," she told him as she reached down to help him back up. "But thanks. I couldn't do this without you here."

* * *

"Grant, you're transferring to another team. You'll be leaving in an hour."

Skye froze in her seat in Garrett's office late that evening, watching the two of them. Ward just nodded as if this was an everyday occurrence. "Yes, sir. What's the job?"

"Officially, it's all classified and I know nothing about it." Garrett smirked. " _Unofficially_ , I can tell you that you'll be joining a mobile command unit, specially recruited by none other than Phil Coulson."

Ward blinked, and Skye could see surprise leaking through his features - something pretty unusual. "I thought Coulson was dead."

"He was. And now he's not."

"Hold it," Skye interrupted. "Are you saying SHIELD brought somebody back from the _dead?!_ That is so cool!" Ward glared at her and she sat back, muttering, "Well, it is."

"I pulled some strings to get you at the top of the recruitment list," Garrett continued. "I want you to learn everything you can about how they brought him back." He grabbed a file and handed it to Ward. "Phil's a sucker for underdogs - first Hawkeye, then Black Widow, both of them were fixers. So you're gonna give him somebody to help. He's known for making teams out of loners. Play on that. But he's also a real straight arrow. Plays things by the book, buys into that whole line of protecting the rest of the world."

Ward nodded, absorbing the information. Skye watched, feeling a pit in her stomach. If Ward was leaving… "What does this mean for me?" she asked aloud. "I mean, I'm assuming you called me in for a reason. Am I leaving, too?"

Garrett grinned at her. "Naw, you're staying here. But Grant's gonna need a way to pass information back to us. Now, keeping in close contact with his prior S.O. would be pretty unusual, and probably raise some red flags." Ward nodded in agreement. "But calling and meeting up with his girlfriend who just happens to be a consultant on his last team…" He trailed off meaningfully, looking at the two of them like he'd discovered the world's best joke. Ward snapped his eyes up at Skye, and she stared back. "Who would find that suspicious?"

"Wait a second -" "John, are you sure that's such a great -"

"Of _course_ it's a great idea!" Garrett clapped Ward on the shoulder. "C'mon, Grant, you tellin' me in front of the lady you don't find her attractive?"

Skye blushed, and Ward's face went completely blank. "No, sir."

"Then there's no problem. It won't take much, anyway - just a few chats once in a while, meet up when you're in the same place. It'll be just like back in LA."

Fighting down the blush, Skye offered, "I could probably figure out a way to send encoded information through a video chat. It'd be hidden by the video codex, nobody would find it unless they knew what to look for."

"Perfect!" Grant stood up and ushered them both out. "Now, you two kids figure out how this'll all work before the plan gets here to take Grant first thing in the morning." He winked at them and closed his door.

Ward huffed and strode away toward his room. "Hey, wait up!" Skye called, traipsing after him. "How's this going to work?"

"It's not," he growled. "This is ridiculous."

"Oh, come on, it's not _that_ bad," she protested. "I mean, it's not like your new team will ever even see us together. You just have to call me once in a while."

He pressed his lips tightly and pulled her into his room, shutting the door. "Skye, this is a _long-term op_. And a girlfriend I'd be in touch with from the field? That implies a serious commitment. They'll be suspicious if they never see us together. Otherwise I could just call Garrett on a burner phone and pretend to be talking to a girlfriend."

She shrugged at him. "Okay, so we set up a couple run-ins when you're at headquarters. It won't be that bad." She watched him sullenly pull out his bags. "Unless you find me repulsive?"

He froze, then turned around. "Skye, that is _not_ the problem."

She smiled slightly. "Then we're okay, right?"

He ran his eyes up and down her figure. As he'd suggested earlier, she'd worn the purple top - worked like a charm on Dumont and he'd eaten up her apology. So she knew she looked pretty good.

"We'll have to be comfortable with each other," he said slowly. "Can't look like a couple of teens on their first date."

"Oh," she said slowly, her heart beating a little faster. "So, like, we should, what, take some pictures together right?"

"Yeah. And probably lay a couple of crumbs for the rest of the team here, in case someone asks them."

"Yeah?" She walked the length of the bed to stand next to him at the dresser. "Sounds easy enough. We've already been hanging out most of your off time." He'd been quietly training her out of sight of the team - it didn't fit her hacker profile, but Ward insisted it was useful for her to learn how to defend herself. "And, I mean, you already know how I like my coffee."

He reached over and gently brushed some hair off her shoulder. "I'll need to know more than that." His eyes were on her lips, and when she unconsciously licked them she saw his eyes darken.

"Oh, um, okay," she breathed, then edged her way toward him and reached up a hand to his shoulder. He just watched her, so she leaned up and met him with a gentle press of lips, then leaned back. Her heart beating, she pulled up a nervous smile. "C'mon, Ward, is that really how you -"

He cut her off with another kiss, this one hungry and passionate. His arms wrapped around and he pulled her in at the waist, bringing her flush up against him. She grabbed at the back of his head, meeting him kiss for kiss, then gasping when she finally pulled away for air. "Wow. Um, okay then."

She could see him analyzing her reaction, eyes taking in everything the way he studied his mission files. "You okay with this, then?"

"Yeah," she breathed, "I think it's a sacrifice I can make." His eyes widened slightly in alarm and she laughed, then leaned in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'm really hoping this worked - I felt like I had a lot to set up here, and I'm a little nervous that it ends up being too sparse. But after this I plan to start jumping around a little so I can focus on ideas as they occur to me.


End file.
